A CLASS ACT – AFYP
Summer Arts Camp 2008

FACULTY BIOS AND INFORMATION

Summer Camp Registration Form

Additional faculty information here.

Group 1 (Ages 5 – 6) will be taught by Lisette LeCompte. In addition to an extensive performance background and teaching at Imagination Stage, Lisette is completing advanced degrees in Special Education. She will be assisted by Katy Ford.Katy has been working with AFYP for four years now and loves teaching her students the love she has for acting. She has most recently performed in West Side Story, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Quilters. Next year she will be a senior at Georgetown Visitation. Teaching & Staff Assistants: Conor Tarpy, Blair Bowers, Arielle Seidman.

Group 2 (Ages 7 – 8) will be co-taught by Megan Thrift and Phil Dallmann. Megan is a Senior Theater Major, Education/Dance Minor at GMU and with her degree she hopes to become a High School Theater teacher while pursuing professional work. She is a company member of the Keegan Theatre Co. in Washington, DC and has also performed locally and regionally at Gunston Arts Center, Folger Theater and the Kennedy Center. She has worked with AFYP since October of 2005 teaching acting and movement in our camp, afterschool and weekend programs. Phil is a junior theatre major at GMU. He has participated in several shows for the GMU Players, most recently as assistant director for Measure for Measure. This fall he will direct The Pillowman. Phil is also a playwright, and teaches in AFYP’s afterschool programs. Teaching & Staff Assistants: Matthew Friedman, Ahmad Maaty, Emily Wilkins, Elliott Kashner, Kelly Hennessy, Collin Peterson.

Please note that due to the large size of this age group, they will be carefully subdivided further for some activities.

Group 3 (Ages 9 – 10) will be co-taught by Elana Boulos and Mimsi Janis. Elana has been with AFYP Camp for three years. She is a rising Senior at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia where she is studying Theatre Management and Production with an emphasis in Musical Theatre Direction. She has been teaching theatre to children in Virginia and Philadelphia for 5 years now and is currently working at the Walnut Street Theatre's Education Department in Philadelphia . At UArts, she has directed such shows as "The Cradle Will Rock", "The Dinner Party" and in the 2009 Studio Series she will be directing "It's Only Life", a John Bucchino Revue. 

Mimsi holds a BA in theater from Principia College and an M.Ed from George Mason University . She is a theatre teacher for Fairfax County Public Schools. Mimsi performs improv comedy with the Screaming Puppets and has appeared with them at the Baltimore Imporv festival, Jammin' Java and the Tally Ho theatre. Her recent acting credits include CATS, Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar and A My Name is Alice. She has been with AFYP for four years and teaches in our afterschool, weekend and Scout Badge Workshop programs. Teaching & Staff Assistants: Jack Miggins, Dane Styler, Cameron Brenke, Courtney Fonnesbeck, Jim Martin, and Rachel Beauregard.

Please note that due to the large size of this age group, they will be carefully subdivided further for some activities. 

Group 4 (Ages 11 – 12) will be taught by Kelly Thomas. Kelly was born and raised in Washington DC , and is a recent graduate of GMU, where she earned her degree in Theater. She is currently Director of Theater at Stafford High School . Past performances include Look Homeward Angel and Lion in the Streets, for which she was commended in the Washington Post. Kelly has studied dance, drama, and music up and down the east coast. She wishes to share her love for the arts by teaching children of all ages about the performing arts. Kelly will be assisted by Charles Mann. Charles is a Junior Theater major at George Mason University and has recently appeared as Lucio (Measure for Measure), Sweeney Todd (Sweeney Todd), and Mr. Klemper (The Boys Next Door).  Charles teaches in AFYP’s afterschool programs, and is an original cast member of AFYP Stages’ Street Smart: The Adventures of Polly Pedestrian. Teaching & Staff Assistants: Lara Murray, Daniel Lagdameo.

Group 5 (Ages 13+) will be taught by Lisa Nanni-Messegee. Lisa is a freelance theatre artist and teaches at GMU, NOVA Manassas and AFYP. Her production company is Lucy 8 Productions, L.L.C.  Lisa has produced plays throughout the country, including Radio Vega which premiered in Minnesota and will be produced by AFYP for the Mason Festival of the Arts. Lisa also wrote Street Smart: The Adventures of Polly Pedestrian, a play about traffic safety which is scheduled to tour elementary schools this Fall in Fairfax County . Recent directing credits include The Shape of Things, The Dining Room and Violets. Lisa is Resident Playwright & Director for our company’s newest branch, AFYP Stages.  She will be assisted by Patrick Magill and Candice Carter. Patrick is currently a senior Theater major at GMU. He has taught with AFYP since Spring 2007, teaching several after school classes and musical theater for our weekend classes. At GMU, he is the current GMU Players President and has worked on over 15 productions as actor, stage manager, and director. He has also worked professionally with Theater of the First Amendment as stage manager, assistant director, and assistant production manager.  Candice recently moved to the DC area from Norfolk , VA where she was employed for four years with Virginia Stage Company (VSC), LORT, as the Education Associate and Tour Manager. Currently, Candice is a member of the faculty for Imagination Stage and Educational Theatre Company; and recently directed Oliver Twist for Mount Vernon Community Children’s Theatre.  In the past, she served on the faculty at the Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts and worked at several professional theatres up and down the east coast from her hometown of Alabama to New York as a director, stage manager and educator. Candice holds a BA in Theatre from Jacksonville State University . She is Director of Touring Programs and Outreach for AFYP Stages.  

Maureen Rohn (Voice for the Stage/Musical Theater) just graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Theatre, Business Institutions and a certificate in Musical Theatre. She is also a graduate of the British American Drama Academy (2006) and the Virginia Governor's School Theatre program (2003). Favorite shows include Children of Eden, A Funny Thing Happened..., Julius Caesar, All's Well That Ends Well, My Fair Lady and the Northwestern University Waa-Mu Show (the nation's largest student-written musical) which she also produced this past year. Maureen is delighted to return to camp for her third summer. Assisting Maureen with Voice classes is Jimmy Marks. Jimmy is a performer and public speaker, and has been trained in vocal techniques, acting and singing by a wide array of teachers. He has performed in several plays, been an acting/ vocal coach for young performers, and has competed in public speaking competitions on various levels with great success. For three years, he was lucky enough to work with ESL children in the MEP Summer School in Colonial Beach , VA. He will soon receive his diploma in Communication, with a focus in Public Relations.

Jay Saunders (Movement) is a recent graduate of George Mason's Theater program and has completed classes in acting, movement, stage combat, and Linklater voice techniques.  He has previously taught Stage Combat for AFYP and this will be his second year with the AFYP team.  He is currently pursuing a career in both Stage and Film in the DC area. Jay will be assisted with Movement classes by Jesse Nepivoda. Jesse joined our faculty last summer and also teaches in our afterschool programs. A recent graduate of GMU, he was honored with the Chris Parsons Acting Award and an award for Excellence in Performance by the Theater Department.

Kimberley Cetron (Musical Theater) worked for over 15 years as an actor, singer, director, and producer in NYC, Washington DC , Boston , and Chicago . She has a master’s degree in early childhood/elementary education (Fordham) and is a doctoral candidate in education at GMU. She taught general music and musical theater in the New York metro area before re-locating to Northern Virginia , where she worked for the Fairfax County Public Schools (elementary/secondary). She is a published writer, and serves as board chair for Theater of the First Amendment.  She teaches in the theater and education departments for GMU.

Kevin Murray (Acting for the Camera) is Managing Director of Theater of the First Amendment at GMU. He teaches audition techniques for stage and camera for GMU's Theater Department, and works frequently as a freelance actor, having appeared in TFA's productions of The Memorandum and Three Hotels, Paramount 's Runaway Bride, several episodes of NBC's Homicide, HBO’s The Wire, and two TNT Original Movies, The Day Lincoln Was Shot and The Hunley.  He will assisted by videographer David Burns.

Frank Robinson, Jr. (Playwriting): Frank gladly returns to AFYP to teach playwriting.  He most recently performed as Manny Steen in Ellis Island: The Dream of America with the Fairfax Symphony and Theater of the First Amendment in the Mason Festival of the Arts.  His plays have been produced at Source Theatre , Washington , DC and The Birmingham Children’s Theatre, Birmingham , Alabama .  He also appeared in the recent HBO mini-series, John Adams.  He has performed throughout the United States and Canada and in Washington , DC at Church Street , Ford’s, and Source Theatres, and with Interact at Folger Theatre and Arena Stage. He has also performed many times with Theater of the First Amendment’s First Light Festival.  Favorite roles include: James Wilson in 1776 at Ford’s Theatre, Uncle Pumblechook in Great Expectations: The Musical at Folger, Noel Coward in Queen of Clubs at Church Street , and Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol for Nebraska Theatre Caravan. Frank teaches our acting/playwriting after school classes at Hunters Woods Elementary School .

Cameron Brenke (Improv/TheaterSports):  Cam is a graduate of the AFYP program and has been on the faculty since Summer 2006, teaching Improv and acting in our afterschool programs and weekend classes. He is a Sophomore at GMU, majoring in Film and Visual Studies. He will be assisted by Dane Styler and Emily Wilkins (James Martin, Sessions II & III).